The Legacy of the World's Most Heroic Villain
by Windrises
Summary: Gotham's biggest garden was destroyed, in order to have room for a new club. Poison Ivy is planning on having the club destroyed. Batman has a sentimental attachment to the club, so he's extra-determined to save it.


Note: Batman is owned by DC Comics and was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, along with the help of several uncredited artists.

Bruce Wayne was moping around Wayne Manor. He looked up in the sky and was glad to see the Bat Signal. He lightly smiled and started heading towards the Bat-Cave. He quickly got on his Batman costume and started heading towards the signal.

A few minutes later, Batman appeared on the police station's rooftop, while hanging around the shadows. He said, "Commissioner Gordon, what's the mission?"

Commissioner Gordon turned around and saw Batman. He said, "We've got a rather big problem."

Batman had an intrigued look on his face, while asking, "What is it?"

Commissioner Gordon explained, "There was a fancy building put up in Gotham, that honors random celebrities. In order to make room for the place, they had to tear down Gotham's biggest field of flowers and plants. You probably know which villain got bothered by that."

Batman frowned and said, "Poison Ivy. That well-intentioned, but corrupt scoundrel has her priorities out of order. She thinks plants are superior to people. Considering I spend most of my time fighting evil people, I'm tempted to share that sentiment."

Detective Bullock walked, while looking angry. Bullock was the only person Batman knew, who frowned more than himself. Bullock said, "I think Batman's the last person, who deserves to save people. After all, he probably more about bats than people."

Batman ignored him and asked, "Has the building already been put up?"

Commissioner Gordon answered, "Yeah."

Batman looked confused, while asking, "Then why would Poison Ivy go after that place? Her precious field has been destroyed. What would she gain?"

Commissioner Gordon said, "I don't know, but she seems to already be getting to work." He showed Batman a picture of a poisoned guard.

Batman replied, "Have the guards take tonight off. I'm going to the guard, this time." Commissioner Gordon raised his thumbs in approval.

Detective Bullock angrily asked, "Are you kidding me? Batman's a nut in a corny costume. He couldn't even guard the Justice League's treehouse." Batman rolled his eyes.

Commissioner Gordon looked back at Batman and said, "As usual, Bullock's acting like a fool. However, you do need to be careful. I know you and your other superhero friends often cause property damage and this club isn't the right place for that type of roughness."

Batman asked, "Is there anything essential?"

Commissioner Gordon answered, "There's plenty of things. A personal favorite is the shrine to Tony Jay." Batman raised his eyebrows in surprise and left.

Batman got into the Batmobile and started heading home. He started having a flashback about his childhood. A young Bruce Wayne was watching a film, that had Tony Jay as the villain. Bruce was a kid at the time, so Tony Jay's excellent, menacing performance scared him. He put a blanket over himself and it looked like he was trying to hide.

Thomas Wayne looked at his son and noticed he seemed scared about something. He asked, "Is everything okay?" Bruce pointed to the scary villain on the TV. Thomas said, "Don't worry, old chum. That's nothing to be scared of. This is just a movie, so that guy's an actor, not a real villain."

Bruce asked, "How could he be so scary, if he's not evil in real life?"

Thomas answered, "That's what actors do. The fact he scared you shows how convincing and amazing Tony Jay's acting is."

Bruce started feeling relieved, while asking, "So, Tony Jay isn't evil?"

Thomas shook his head and said, "No, he's known for being a gentleman, despite being good at sounding evil."

Bruce replied, "To be honest, I've never heard of him before."

Thomas responded, "He's never really gotten the credit he deserves, but I don't think he cares. A lot of the world's best heroes remain mysteries, like knights in the darkness."

Back then, internet research wasn't as common, so Bruce did lots of research at the library and book stores to find out more about Tony Jay. This is what inspired him to become a detective.

A few hours later, the club was closing for the night. The club owner had agreed to Batman's request, about letting him be the only guard. The guards were thrilled that they didn't have to work that night, so they started prancing around the city.

Batman went into the club. All of lights had been turned off. It was pretty dark, which Batman was fond. He looked around the place and paid his respects to various celebrities, who had been given a shrine in the club. After several minutes of looking around, he found the Tony Jay shrine. He was honored to be around it. He happily stared at, while having nostalgic flashbacks.

However, Batman's sentimental feelings were interrupted, because he heard footsteps. Batman knew that Poison Ivy had arrived. Poison Ivy looked around and was surprised that nobody was guarding outside. She figured that Batman had sent them away. She had a mischievous smile on her face, while saying, "That means Batman is the only one I'll have to defeat. That bad boy is so over-confident. After I get him out of the way, my mission will succeed." She did an evil laugh.

Batman saw Poison Ivy coming into the club. He pointed some batarangs at her and sternly said, "You better not try anything."

Poison Ivy asked, "What do you think I'm going to do? Do you think I'm going to give up this mission, because of your pathetic attempt at scaring me away?"

Batman angrily said, "Don't mess around, plant-girl. This club is an important place and it honors several amazing people."

Poison Ivy replied, "Don't act like this place is innocent, Batman. Thousands of beautiful flowers and plants lost their lives, thanks to the horrific and greedy owner of this place."

Batman responded, "They're plants, not people. If you think the lives of plants are more important than people, then you're a maniac."

Poison Ivy grinned and replied, "As maniacal as you think I am, I'm still going to be the one who will win."

Batman asked, "Win? The plants are gone. What would you even win?"

Poison Ivy paced around the room, while getting her poison ready. She said, "I'm avenging the death of those plants. I'll have this silly place removed and build a new and better garden, in honor of the plants whose lives were lost."

Batman replied, "You're not being honorable vine-lady. You're being a petty and confusing criminal."

Poison Ivy started having one of her plant creations attack Batman. Batman tried look confident, while asking, "Do you think that thing can stop me?"

Poison Ivy said, "I believe so."

Batman punched the plant-creation, but it started punching and kicking Batman. Batman tried to defeat, but he kept getting flung across the club. While lying on the ground, he opened his utility belt and tried to find something useful. After a few minutes of searching, he found an electric taser. Tasers were something that Batman never used on people. Since the plant-creation wasn't a person, Batman didn't feel bad about tasering it. The electric taser started zapping the plant-creation. It blew up, causing broken pieces of plants to scatter across the floor. Batman planned on cleaning it up, after he defeated Poison Ivy.

Batman ran around the club and tried to find Poison Ivy. He heard creature noises. He looked around and saw that Poison Ivy had created more plant creatures. He said, "You're all going down." He grabbed his taser and got to work.

Several minutes later, Batman had defeated the plant creatures and he was still looking for Poison Ivy. Poison Ivy was standing around an empty room. The owner hadn't had anything put in it yet and he had big plans. However, Poison Ivy had her own plans. She dug a hole into the ground and was going to put seeds in there. She said, "Newer, better, prettier, and more dangerous flowers and plants will grow out of the ground and get rid of this place. The club will be demolished, but my garden will live forever."

Batman approached her and replied, "That's not going to happen."

Poison Ivy looked confused, while asking, "How did you defeat my plant creatures?"

Batman answered, "I electrocuted them."

Poison Ivy angrily replied, "How dare you. I thought you had a no-kill policy, yet you showed them no mercy."

Batman responded, "I don't kill people. Plants are another story."

Poison Ivy presented a bottle of poison and said, "I've been working on a new poison. I guarantee you won't last through this one."

Poison Ivy seemed stubborn to not change her villainous ways, but Batman hadn't given up on hope. While Poison Ivy was mocking him, Batman was trying to come up with the right words to say. Batman said, "So, you don't care about humans getting poisoned?"

Poison Ivy replied, "If you haven't figured how little I care about the humans, you truly are a crappy detective."

Batman responded, "You may have plant DNA inside of you, but you're still human. If you turn against all of humanity, you'd have to turn against yourself. You want to take over Gotham, remove all the people, and have a city of plants. However, if you become in charge of this new garden of yours, you'd be putting a human in charge. You may think you stand up for plants, but you actually stand up for hypocritical nonsense."

Poison Ivy sighed and thought about what Batman was saying. She said, "I'm both a human and a plant. Because of that, I'm the only human who can be trusted and remain."

Batman replied, "Without people, there'd be nobody to take care of the plants. Despite your dedication, even you don't have the resources to keep every plant alive. If you want to keep as many plants alive as possible, you need to have as many people as possible."

Poison Ivy put her hand on her chin and responded, "Fair points, my dear enemy. After I get rid of this club, I'll go around Gotham and brainwash everybody in Gotham into serving the needs of plants, rather than helping their fellow humans."

Batman walked closer to her and asked, "Don't you know what outcome that would lead to?" Poison Ivy stubbornly shook her head. Batman said, "I would use an antidote to cure those people and those people would start hating plants, because of you. You give plants a bad name. People of Gotham have been getting rid of plants and they've even become afraid of them, because of you. Instead of helping plants, you're crushing their reputation and their chance of surviving. Talk about dramatic irony."

Poison Ivy was horrified to realize that she had been negatively affecting plants, rather than helping them. She looked upset, but she also looked guilty. She looked back at Batman and said, "I had never thought of that before. How did you figure that out?"

Batman replied, "When I was a kid, I used to be scared by an incredibly convincing actor. He was hired to be intimidating, but I eventually became charmed by his talents and have become a devoted fan. He was meant to scare people, but instead, he warmed peoples' hearts. You're in a similar situation. You hired yourself to be the protector of plants, but you've been leading to their downfall. You can enjoy your life of hypocritical denial or you can start making a positive difference, for once."

Poison Ivy sighed and asked, "What should I do?"

Batman answered, "Leave this place alone, after you help me clean up your mess." He handed her a broom. Poison Ivy angrily growled, before calming down and helping Batman clean the club.

After Batman and Poison Ivy finished cleaning the club, they walked outside. Poison Ivy stuck her arms out and said, "Go ahead and put the handcuffs on me. I deserve to go back to Arkham Asylum, don't I?"

Batman replied, "For now. In the future, you'll have a garden to go back to." Poison Ivy smiled at him.

After Batman took Poison Ivy to Arkham Asylum, he went back to the club. He walked up to the Tony Jay shrine and said, "I couldn't of solved this case without your help. You may of played villains, but you were a true hero. Your legacy will continue to inspire the people of the world, including myself." He took some money out of his wallet and grabbed a red marker. He turned the money into paper hearts to symbolize that making people happy, is what Tony Jay's legacy has and always will be about.

A few days later, Poison Ivy was in Arkham Asylum, while looking bored. A guard walked up to her and said, "Some wacko dropped off a gift."

Poison Ivy looked down and saw a wrapped-box. She opened it and found beautiful, fancy plant. She asked, "Who got me this?"

Batman popped out of the shadows and said, "I did. I know you hate humans, but I hope that you don't mind a human getting you a plant-themed gift."

Poison Ivy smiled and replied, "Maybe humans aren't so bad. Why did you get this for me?"

Batman responded, "To honor you for doing the right thing, for once. Well, I hope you doing the right thing becomes a regular event, rather than a minor exception."

Poison Ivy sniffed the plant, while saying, "I think I'm going to go easier on the humans, from now on. I think it's what the plants would of wanted."

Batman replied, "I'm sorry about the loss of Gotham's biggest garden. Thankfully, I talked to Bruce Wayne and convinced him to plant a new garden. It's going to be near his mansion and it'll bigger than you could ever imagine."

Poison Ivy felt pleasantly surprised, while asking, "What inspired you to do that?"

Batman smiled and said, "You did. I think you can become a greater protector of plans, after all. Just make sure you don't ignore the importance of humans."

Poison Ivy replied, "Okay then. I can't thank you enough, Batman." She hugged Batman, while experiencing tears of happiness. Thanks to Batman, Gotham had grown into a better city, just like a garden.


End file.
